Nintendo Labo is Cardboard Lego for Switch this April

Nintendo Labo will add a whole other dimension of play to Switch this April by offering a variety of toys made out of cardboard.

This innovative idea serves as a form of Cardboard Augmented Reality by tasking players with building models of varying difficulty, leaving spaces for the Joy-Cons to turn the models into motion-sensitive Toy-Cons.

There will be two Nintendo Labo boxes at launch. The first, a variety pack, will enable you to build a little radio-controlled car, as well as a fishing rod and a piano. This will cost $69.99.

There will also be a Robot kit where you can create a full robot suit for $79.99. Each pack will come with an instruction manual, as well as software to play on your Switch. There will also be a seperate customisation pack with tape rolls and stickers so you can personalise your creations.

The aim is to tap into imagination and creativity, while also helping to educate children in both coding and engineering. Considering this is a generation obsessed with Minecraft, we think Nintendo are definitely onto something!

The devices are operated through the infared camera on the Joy-Con controller, and in the case of the piano, are able to tell which buttons are being pressed so the appropriate sound effect is played through the Switch. There are even cardboard dials and switches which will also modify the tone.

The Guardian were able to get hands-on with Nintendo Labo and suggest that the Toy-Cons are ‘surprisingly study, but won’t stand up to extended enthusiastic play with younger kids.’

Either way, this is a fascinating experiment from Nintendo and certainly shows that their vision for Switch far outgrows anything we ever imagined.

Nintendo Labo will release on April 27 in Europe, and April 20 in the US.

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About the author

Ray Willmott

Ray is the founder and editor of Expansive. He is also a former Community Manager for Steel Media, and has written for a variety of gaming websites over the years. His work can be seen on Pocket Gamer, PG.biz, Gfinity, and the Red Bull Gaming Column. He has also written for VG247, Videogamer, GamesTM, PLAY, and MyM Magazine,